Just 11 months after the Paris climate talks, the resulting treaty has come into force. The rapid ratification looks set to heap even more pressure on Australia to come up with a credible climate policy.

Plants absorb carbon and store it in the land.
Blue mountains image from www.shutterstock.comSeptember 28, 2016

From Hawke-Keating to Rudd-Gillard, climate policy has an uncanny ability to cost Australian political leaders their jobs. And it was a key element in the rivalry between Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.

The term 'carbon tax' is a political poison in Australia, thanks to the previous carbon tax which was actually an emissions trading scheme. Yet ironically, many economists prefer a tax over an ETS anyway.

The Renewable Energy Target now includes wood waste from forestry. But a more sustainable use of Australia's native forests would be to leave them alone and earn carbon credits from the avoided emissions.

Switching to solar power can deliver over 100 million tonnes of emissions reductions by 2030.*
David Goehring/FlickrJune 25, 2015